This small notch we were now standing in provided a great starting ledge, so we stripped off our packs and strapped on our harnesses. Gene packed his pack up with some water, headlamps, an apple, along with two sweaters.

Panoramic

From the ledge we obviously needed to climb up to the top of the notch, if not part of the route, to at least to obtain a better view of the possibilities. After a short pitch of about 30 feet, I scrambled further up the buttress to a perfect sitting Belay and yelled down at Gene that I was Off Belay. It was only few minutes later we were standing together looking up the buttress and speculated at where the route went next.

It was now Gene’s lead, so I gave him the rack and he climbed up and past the ledge I was sitting on. The route continued up and to the left through an intermittent Crack system that past several large belay ledges. If we were running too late, I figured at least these ledges would be a great place to Bivouac for the evening. This type of climbing lasted for another two short pitches of about 100’ until we reached a small belay tree, where Gene reeled me in. From here a small crack lead right and up into a tight Chimney with twin cracks on both sides and a small overhanging capstone about 30 feet above.

It was this pitch where the climbing started to get a little more serious and we both started to focus on the task at hand. After reaching up and over the capstone I climbed to the left through a nice layback and a few short sections of Face Climbing.

Liberty Bell Group

The next lead was his, so I watched him climb out and to the left over a few Class 3 blocks as I took out the camera to film him for a bit. I realized I hadn’t taken very many photos yet, since the climbing had been pretty intensive and sustained. It was no matter, so I put the camera away and put my full attention to what Gene was doing.

Long Shadows

After he reached the top of the pitch, he quickly setup a belay and I headed up to the same area he had troubles with. After I got a good Hand jam, and was able to make a couple of moves I too slipped and got a good shot of adrenalin. This was definitely the Crux pitch and not to mention one of the best I’ve climbed in a long time. When I joined Gene on the ledge he was belaying from, we both took a couple of gulps of water and relaxed for a few minutes. We were very near the two false summit humps and the sun was starting to cast the long shadow that forbade that twilight was near.